


The Wanting Comes in Waves

by ATwistOfLemonLyman



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, James is only mildly disgraced after his failure to capture Jack after CotBP, Post COTBP, for anyone wondering Norribeth is endgame here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22550545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATwistOfLemonLyman/pseuds/ATwistOfLemonLyman
Summary: James doesn't want to turn himself into a martyr so he tries to get himself a life after his broken engagement and career failures.
Relationships: James Norrington/Elizabeth Swann, James Norrington/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 14





	1. Isabel

~Isabel~

Isabel Beaumont is the eldest of the eight children of Charles, Lord Beaumont, and his wife Caroline, and the birth of each sibling had seen to the shrinking of her future dowry and inheritance. Her dear papa was no spendthrift but neither was he a penny-pincher, and despite his care and a fortune large enough to sustain a family of 10 he does worry that after his death even her considerable settlement might disappear for one reason or other and that his daughter will be left a penniless spinster without a husband to offer any sort of financial security. But in these moments of concern he reminds himself that his girl is well-loved, nay, _adored_ (for they both love and _worship_ her), by her siblings. They will care for each other, he tells himself as he watches a parade of young men show little interest in a young woman who can easily outsmart them and as he shoos away the young men keen on breaking the wildness they see in her in hopes of reducing her to a tame and docile young beauty, a decoration to cling to their arm and keep in a pretty cage.

She climbs trees and rides horses with reckless abandon, she reads too much, thinks too much, and talks too much about all the wrong things, and still her parents indulge her. There are, however, times when her father mutters curses at his wife’s hot-blooded grandfather, a Spanish admiral turned wayward ambassador who left a trail of scandal as he fled back across the Bay of Biscay after the seduction of an English earl’s daughter, for surely _he_ is to blame- it is from _him_ that The Honourable Isabel Beaumont has inherited this vivacious and wildly inquisitive spirit. 

As he shoos away yet another suitor Lord Beaumont reminds himself that _The Admiral_ is not the only one to blame for his daughter’s possible future as a spinster, most of the blame can be placed squarely on his own head. 

Isabel and her brother Henry, only a year her junior, had been inseparable nearly since the moment of the boy’s birth and, when Henry had been old enough for his education under the supervision of tutors to begin, his darling girl had demanded that she be educated with her brother. Of course her father, unable to deny her anything, had relented and so together with Henry she had been educated in all manner of subjects, tackling Latin, Greek, the Classics, mathematics, and more. If he had been more like other fathers he would not have to be so concerned about his lively girl but, if pushed, he will admit that he would not change a thing about his eldest if given the opportunity; and so he learns to despair less and less with each young man who finds her wanting (and who she finds them falling short of her own high expectations).

  
  



	2. James - Part I

Charles found himself at ease with his eldest daughter’s prospects as her first season came to an end but he received something of a shock when, two years after Isabel’s coming out, a handsome naval officer, little more than a decade younger than Charles himself, asks for his permission to court Isabel. More shocking still is that his daughter appears to be amenable to the man’s request.

Isabel is rather surprised at herself too. She neither saw herself doomed to spinsterhood nor bound for married bliss, she was only 19 and found that either was still a possibility and she would not mind either path. She did, however, want children of her own (though not half as many as her own parents’) and given her family’s history she adamantly believed that there was only one proper way to come about having children though she refused to pass judgement against those who came by them by less socially acceptable means.

And that was at the heart of it all, she was not a romantic but a realist and a pragmatist. She knew matches like her parents were not common; neither had married the other for money, property, or title, they’d been young and madly in love and nearly two decades later remained young-at-heart and still very much in love. Believing such a high standard could not be met, Isabel had decided that she would be quite content to become a spinster and maintain her independence, or, if the opportunity presented itself, marry a man who would allow her her independence whom she could come to like, if not love, and who would return a tender, not passionate or all-consuming, admiration and affection.

Shortly after their first acquaintance it became evident to Isabel that Commodore James Norrington, newly arrived in England from the Caribbean, could be a candidate for the role of husband and father to a small number of future children. 

He was a tall man and most pleasing to the eye, kind, dependable, steady, and always smiled at her when she said anything bordering on scandalous though he was quick to attempt to hide his smiles. From time to time he even flashed small displays of wit and sarcasm, proving that there was a sense of humor behind his serious façade, and these little displays filled Isabel with glee.

Here is a man who would never forbid me my books or chastise me for spending too much time riding horses, she thought to herself. In fact, she was certain that he would even go so far as to encourage her in her pursuit of knowledge and all the other things that made her less desirable in the eyes of many men. She based this on the times where he had graciously accepted defeat when she had bested him while debating topics that the mamas of debutantes thought unsuitable for women in general and young unmarried women in particular. Isabel had felt rather silly to discover that she felt rather pleased with herself when she was declared the winner of their debates and not simply because she was competitive but because it seemed to please the Commodore when she showed off her solid grasp of politics or philosophy. Sometimes he looked even more than just pleased, he looked as if he was lost in a bittersweet memory; she never questioned what brought about the bitterness but she happily lapped up the sweetness. 

The Honourable Isabel Beaumont did not have her sights set on Commodore James Norrington but she decided that his attentions, if he chose to bestow them upon her as a suitor, would continue to be welcome- most welcome indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> ok, here's the thing my dudes. In an ideal world I would be writing this story in the form of a well-researched novel-length fic* but I'm currently wrapped up in a multi-chapter monstrosity in another fandom that has so COMPLETELY taken over my life that at some point I'm probably going to turn it into a piece of original fiction. Because I don't have the time I'd like to devote to this particular fic but I also can't keep these characters and thoughts completely trapped in my head I'm publishing three (maybe four) short chapters AND putting this baby up for "adoption". If you are at all intrigued by what you read in the three (maybe four) chapters I will eventually publish contact me and I can give you more details about the characters and where I saw this whole thing going and if you want to "adopt" this story and I like your writing style and feel that it suits the story I'll let you play with it and expand it.
> 
> *in fact the way I'm writing this right now, where I basically sort of list a bunch of vague stuff that happens with a bit of filling in between, is NOT AT ALL my style (I'm more of a "series of character studies" type)


End file.
